Casino plan deleted from ballot

Friday, Aug. 6, 2004 | 10:47 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A proposal to put a casino in the nation's capital was knocked off the ballot Thursday by election officials who accused supporters of flouting the law.

"They turned the law of the District of Columbia on its head," said Wilma A. Lewis, chair of the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics.

Lewis -- a former U.S. Attorney -- denounced the groups tactics, accusing them of using nonresidents to gather signatures, and of false advertising to try and get people to sign petitions. She said the board got a picture of the signature gathering process through sworn witness testimony and its own investigation.

"It revealed a process, a significant portion of which was fatally flawed," Lewis said, telling organizers there was an overall lack of oversight of the petition circulators. The board will issue a full report next week.

Organizers wanted the proposal on the Nov. 2 ballot. Had voters approved, it would have cleared the way for construction of a $510 million, 14-acre complex in a rundown area about 3 miles northeast of the U.S. Capitol.

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